And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’?But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’?Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not.So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do” (Luke 17:7-10).

Yesterday morning while I was fixing my husband’s lunch, our seven year old son thought that if he did his work, he would get to play Super Mario. In other words, he thought that because he did all of his school work he would get a reward. He and I had a conversation earlier and I told him that he shouldn’t do things in order to be rewarded. His father later said the same thing. We wanted him to do his work for the right reasons. We told him that he had done what was expected of him so don’t expect to be rewarded for it. If we rewarded him for doing what he was told to do, he would expect this every time. And he would not be doing his work because he wanted to but in order to get a treat.

When Jesus spoke to the disciples about faith and duty, He told them that a servant shouldn’t expect to get any special treatment or privileges from his master because he did what was expected of him. And the same principle applied to the disciples. Instead of expecting rewards or recognition or perks, they should just acknowledge that they had done their duty.

When we serve God, we do it out of love for Him and for others, not to get something out of it for ourselves. In everything we do, we do it for God’s glory not for our gain.